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http://media.utoronto.ca/media-releases/education/academics-fronting-ghostwritten-medical-journal-articles-as-%E2%80%98guest-authors%E2%80%99-should-be-charged-with-fraud-say-uoft-law-professors/
University of Toronto
Posted on August 3, 2011
TORONTO, ON – Two University of Toronto Faculty of Law professors argue that academics who ‘lend’ their names, and receive substantial credit as guest authors of medical and scientific articles ghostwritten by industry writers, should be charged with professional and academic misconduct and fraud, even if they contain factually correct information.
In an article published today in PLoS Medicine, Professors Simon Stern and Trudo Lemmens argue “Guest authorship is a disturbing violation of academic integrity standards, which form the basis of scientific reliability.” In addition, “The false respectability afforded to claims of safety and effectiveness through the use of academic investigators risks undermining the integrity of biomedical research and patient care.”
In “Legal Remedies for Medical Ghostwriting: Imposing Fraud Liability on Guest Authors of Ghostwritten Articles,” Stern and Lemmens argue that since medical journals, academic institutions, and professional disciplinary bodies have not succeeded in enforcing effective sanctions, a more successful deterrence would be through the imposition of legal liability on the guest authors, “and may give rise to claims that could be pursued in a class action based on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).”
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